13A closed after Hotel Kingston collapse

Thursday

BELMONT — County Route 13A in the Village of Canaseraga is closed until further notice following the partial collapse of the Hotel Kingston Sunday night.

The historic structure dates back to 1898, but its collapse in its 120th year has Allegany County Department of Public Works crews monitoring the site for safety concerns.

Route 13A (North Church Street), between the state Route 70 (Main Street) intersection and the Clark Street intersection, is closed “due to a potential structural building failure.” There will not be an on-site detour to accommodate traffic and motorists are urged to seek alternate routes.

“We’re currently taking care of that problem. We have it closed for travel and public safety,” DPW Deputy Superintendent Justin Henry reported at Wednesday’s Public Works Committee meeting.

Elsewhere on local roads, Henry provided an update on two bridge projects that utilize panels from the old Tappan Zee Bridge. The Purdy Creek Bridge is back open to traffic, and the Higgins Creek Bridge is due to be finished next week.

Courtyard work?

In other business, DPW asked for a decision from the committee on whether to proceed with procuring design work on enclosing the third floor courtyard, a former prisoner recreation area when the building once housed the county jail. Legislator Bill Dibble (R-Little Genesee) brought forth the idea, citing the space’s potential as a conference area. The estimate for design work is $12,690.

“I think it’s money well spent,” Dibble said.

Legislator Phil Stockin (R-Houghton) suggested focusing on the courtyard at some point in the future as part of a greater project incorporating other unused space. Legislator Phil Curran (R-Alfred) concurred.

“If and when we do decide to finish the upstairs, it would make a lot more sense to do it all at once if we’re going to do it, rather than doing it piecemeal,” Curran said.

Committee chair Dwight Fanton (R-Wellsville) said the timing was not right to spend money on the project.

“I don’t see an immediate need for it,” Fanton said. “I don’t see spending the $12,000 to find out when we’ve already had a study that looked at it. I think their number was fairly clear and it was in the $1 million range to do it.”

The committee voted down going forward with the design work, 4-2.

In other building and grounds news, the committee gave approval to award HVAC and heat pump work in legislative chambers to the low bidder. The project will address the current noisy HVAC system, which has interfered with meetings in the chamber. The current low bidder is Isaac Heating at $16,000.

Deer removal

The committee approved awarding a bid for the county’s deer removal service to Cross Carcass Removal of Friendship. Cross Carcass Removal was the lower of two bidders, coming in at $70 per deer through 2019, with $1 increases in 2020 and 2021. The previous contract was for $37 per deer removed from county roads.

E-waste

The committee gave the go ahead to award the e-waste recycling bid to Sunnking at $17,957.40. Henry noted as of Jan. 1, the DEC will no longer offer e-waste grant funding, which had covered 50 percent of costs. Four collection events in 2018 cost $13,201.65 — half of which was refunded by a state grant.

Because of the loss of funding, DPW asked for input on how to cover costs in 2019. The committee tentatively decided for the county to pick up the additional cost, continuing the e-waste disposal service for taxpayers. There seems to be a demand for the service — the last e-waste event in October collected 45,993 pounds of electronics from 196 residents.

Personnel

The committee approved DPW abolishing one position of senior heavy equipment mechanic and creating a solid waste equipment mechanic position. The position will feature an annual salary of $36,378.3 with benefits of $17,268.70.

“This is being requested due to the changes out at the landfill and the changes to our equipment needs,” Henry said, noting “This will be a cost savings due to the grade difference of the position, and it will be an easier position to fill because the qualifications are a little less.”

The committee also approved funding a transfer station operator position at $33,209.64 per year with benefits of $15,764.62, as well as a temporary groundsworker position to fill in for an employee going on leave from January to June.

Finally, the committee approved renewing an agreement with the Town of Friendship, Village of Wellsville and Town of Caneadea for leachate disposal at the rate of $.025 per gallon through 2020.

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